For the Faculty of the

Lutherischen Theologischen Hochschule

Oberursel, Germany
 Don’t Tell Me That!

FROM MARTIN LUTHER’S

ANTINOMIAN THESES

Translated and Adapted by

Paul Strawn
Lutheran Press, Minneapolis 55449
© 2004 by Lutheran Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN 0-9748529-2-9

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004109328

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division
of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Capitalization of pronouns referring to the Trinity has been added
and is not part of the original English Standard Version text.

Swan logo is a LifeART image © 2004 Lippincott Williams &

Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Book design by Scott Krieger.

Cover art and design by Joseph Baumgarn.
 Table of Contents
Foreword 7
1 What is Repentance? 19
2 Do Christians Really Need the Law? 23
3 Not to Make Us Right Before God! 27
4 But to Expose Sin, Wrath and Death 31
5 Christian Repentance is Continual 37
6 The Lord’s Prayer is a Prayer of Repentance 41
7 The Forgiveness of Sin is Certain 45
8 Repentance, However, is Vital! 49
9 The Law Rules Over Man as Long as He Lives 55
10 The Law Rules Over Non-Christians as Well 59
11 In Christians the Law Remains Unfulfilled 63
12 The Law Must Condemn 67
Afterword 71
Biblical References 77
 Foreword

“Don’t tell me that!”

–A Small Strawn Child

I do not remember which one of our children spoke the

words above. It was probably one of the boys.
I do not remember the situation exactly. Let’s just say, a
particular boy, probably around the age of three at the time,
had purposely broken one of his toys, and then hidden it
under his bed.
I do remember finding something destroyed that should
not have been, and asking him if knew anything about its
mangled state. From the look on his face, I knew he did. I
also knew he had done the mangling!
Just to be sure, however, I stated simply and clearly: “You
broke the toy.” That did it.
Tears flowed. His hands went up to ears. His mouth
opened and out came the words I have never forgotten:
“DON’T TELL ME THAT!”
This was fascinating. Viewing the mangled toy had
troubled him. But what really hurt was having to hear with
his own ears that he was the one who had mangled the toy!
His three-year-old solution? Cover his ears!

Foreword    
 Why the difference between seeing and hearing? Why
the revulsion at hearing stated what he had, in fact, done?
What had happened?
The Law of God had done its work. Yes, even upon one
so small! “Yet if it had not been for the law,” the Apostle Paul
wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, “I would not have known
sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had
not said, “ You shall not covet.” But sin seizing an opportunity
through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covet-
ousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead”(7:7-8).
According to Jesus Christ, this exposing of sin by the
Law is actually a work of the Holy Spirit. “And when He
comes,” Jesus told His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit,
“He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness
and judgment” ( John 16:8).
What this means is that just by stating what was true,
that my son had done something he should not have done
(in this case, broken the Seventh Commandment by not
maintaining and preserving that which was entrusted to
him), the Holy Spirit convicted Him of his sin as surely as
the words of the prophet Nathan convicted David of his
sins with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:7). Being so confronted,
David repented, and repented heartily.
Without such a confrontation, David’s sins would have
remained dead.
That is, David’s adultery with Bathsheba, and his murder
of her husband Uriah, would not have caused David to
repent. In fact, without Nathan stating the obvious, David
would have kept on living his life–probably in much the
same way as my son would have continued to live his life

 Don’t Tell Me That!

with that mangled toy safely hidden underneath his bed!
Reflecting upon my son’s reaction to the declaration of
his role in its destruction, I realize that his reaction to the
Law of God is not unique. In fact, it just may be that the
Church at large itself is currently in the process of lifting
up its hands collectively to stop its ears and scream out to
its pastors, priests, ministers, professors, teachers, worship
leaders and authors: “DON’T TELL ME THAT!”
What do I mean? Well, it could just be that there is
a general uprising in the Church nowadays against any
preaching, teaching, ministering and music which would
involve the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, con-
victing hearts of sin (cf. Romans 3:20), and consequently,
causing guilt. Now I may be wrong here, but what modern
Christian ears seem to want to hear, what Christian minds
want to contemplate, what Christian emotions want to feel
is not guilt, but joy!
But what Christian could be against such a longing?
After all, joy is a fruit of the Spirit as noted by the Apostle
Paul in his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23)! Certainly if
given the choice between guilt and joy, it would be a no-
brainer: Joy would win out every time!
Come to think of it, even the great Reformer Martin
Luther (1483-1546) was pro-joy! Writing in his Commen-
tary on the Book of Jonah back in 1525, for example, Luther
noted that our heavenly Father wants us to be joyful:
“...We should learn that God does not want people to
be sad and that He hates sad thoughts and sayings, and
doctrines which oppress us. He makes our hearts joyful. For
He did not send His Son to make us sad, but to make us

Foreword  
glad. That is why the prophets and apostles and the Lord
Christ Himself admonishes us and even commands us at all
times to be joyful and of good cheer (as in Zechariah 9:9),
‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem’, and many times in the Psalms, ‘Let us rejoice in
the Lord’, and St. Paul in Philippians (4:4), ‘Rejoice in the
Lord always’; and Christ (Luke 10:20), ‘Rejoice because
your names are written in heaven’. Where there is this joy
of the Spirit there is a dear joy in the heart through faith
in Christ, and we know of a certainty that He is our Savior
and High Priest, and this joy is seen in the things we say
and do.”1
But is the joy about which Luther writes here just any
joy? Is the joy about which Paul writes in Galatians simply
a surging emotion of expectancy and contentment –no
matter what its cause or reason? More to the point: Is the
joy which is a gift of the Holy Spirit the result of simply
overlooking, denying, or ignoring sin? That is, of shoving
sin under our beds, so to speak, and forgetting about it?
To go at this question in another way: Should I have,
upon finding the mangled toy, simply ignored it and re-
joiced that my son had so much energy? Should my son
have, upon hearing that he had broken his toy, simply
ignored the fact that he had done it, and rejoiced? Should
David have, upon hearing that he had committed adultery
with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband Uriah,
simply rejoiced?
If not, why? Well, the joy of which Paul writes in Gala-
tians and upon which Luther expounds in his Jonah Com-
mentary is a bit more complex than that. The joy of the

10 Don’t Tell Me That!

Christian is not simply some common type of joy like that
experienced when we witness a home run in the bottom
of the ninth, participate in a Super Bowl victory parade,
or receive a promotion at work. It is a joy that flows from
the relief of guilt experienced by my son, by David, and a
whole host of Christians through the ages. It is the joy that
can only follow the confession of sin and the conviction,
by means of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of
God, that sin has been forgiven because of the atonement
of Christ on the cross for that sin.
So David, after being confronted by Nathan, does not
speak of simple joy, of common joy, but of the joy of salva-
tion being returned to him in the firm confidence that his
sins had been forgiven:
“Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right
spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the
joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit”
(Psalm 51:10-12).
So if Christian joy is tied so closely to guilt, why the
running away from guilt? Has the Church simply come
to the point of wanting to skip the ‘guilt’ part of life and
go right to the joy? Has the Church discovered that it is
easier, more peaceful, and more appealing, to shun guilt
and promote joy?
At this point you may be thinking: “Well, is that not what
the Christian Church–of all institutions in society–should
do? Should not the Church promote joy? Should not the
Church simply welcome, with open arms, anyone and ev-
eryone, regardless of how they live? After all, did not Jesus

Foreword  11
eat with tax collectors and prostitutes? Who are WE then
to condemn anyone? Who are WE to make anyone feel
guilt in any way shape or form? Should not the Christian
life be a life of joy, a joy based upon not having to worry
about who we are, and what we are doing?
The only problem with this line of thinking, of course,
is that Jesus Christ Himself, the ‘founder’ of Christianity,
frequently spoke about guilt. In fact, Jesus’ first public ser-
mon, according to the Gospel of Mark, was this: “The time
is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and
believe in the gospel.”2
No one repents unless he is actually guilty of commit-
ting a sin, hears that he is guilty, and in admitting that he
has committed the sin mentioned, feels that he is guilty.
In other words, for someone to repent he must first admit
that there is something for which he needs to repent! For
someone to repent, he must first feel the guilt of sin.
Granted, the usage of guilt within the Christian Church
has gotten out of hand in the past. For hundreds of years,
for example, Christians all over the world lived lives of
guilt–a guilt that led to a fear of death.
Christians lived in fear of death for they were taught
that upon dying, chances were, that they would not go to
heaven. Instead, they would end up in purgatory.
Now purgatory was not hell. It was, instead, a place where
Christians would be given as much time as they needed
to make up for the sins that they committed on earth, but
hadn’t had the chance to make up for on earth before they
died. In other words, purgatory was a place where Christians
would be purged of sin and guilt.

12 Don’t Tell Me That!

 Sure, it was somewhat comforting to think that upon
dying, a person would not be sent to hell, but to this purga-
tory place. Yet, purgatory itself intimidated. Why? Popular
wisdom taught that it could take hundreds of thousands
of years in purgatory to make up for the sins committed
during a few decades of life on earth.
What was even worse was that Christian guilt became
a money-making tool for the Church. What better way to
generate funds than to promise a reduction of time spent
in purgatory if something was done by the Christian while
living that would benefit the Church (participation in a
crusade, a pilgrimage, a cash donation)?
Enter the obscure German monk, Martin Luther, men-
tioned above, who in the first of 95 Theses which he posted
in Wittenberg at the end of October, 1517, for academic
discussion, began what has since been known as the Ref-
ormation of the Church. This is relatively well known.
What is not as well known is that the Reformation of
the Church began with a discussion of guilt and repen-
tance. The very first of the 95 Theses approached the subject
head on, asserting that the Church needed to think about
repentance, needed to think about guilt, in a different way
than it was at the time: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus
Christ, said ‘Repent,’ he meant that the whole life of the
believers should be one of repentance.”
Now what does that mean? How can the entire life of the
Christian be one of repentance? Does that not mean that
the entire life of the Christian should be one of guilt?
No, it does not. It does mean, however, that the Christian
life should be real.

Foreword  13
 What do I mean? I mean that the Christian, of all people,
should realize that since he is still confronted by death, he
is still confronted by sin–the ultimate cause of death! Being
confronted by sin, the Christian himself should not shy
away from its existence, but admit, that yes, sin does exist
and he, the Christian, is sinful. Repentance is therefore
not a once-in-awhile type of situation, but a Christian’s
state of being.
Yes, a Christian, through faith in Jesus Christ, has been
redeemed by Christ and is now considered to be justified
before the Father in Heaven. The Christian, through the
Word of God and the Sacraments, has received and con-
tinues to receive the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works
within the Christian to produce His fruits, one of which
is joy. The Christian’s sin, however, remains. It remains to
bother, to haunt, to trouble, to perturb, and ultimately to
kill.
There is a tension then in Christian joy. A tension caused
by the fact that the Christian is redeemed from sin, but
remains in sin. A tension which has been captured by the
pericopes read on “Joy Sunday” ( Jubilate Sunday) within
the Church for over 1000 years!
On the third Sunday after Easter, texts are read from
Lamentations (3:22-33), 1 John (3:1-3), and the Gospel
of John (16:16-22) all of which point to the fact that the
final and complete rejoicing of the Christian will be when
Christ returns again in glory. Until that time, a Christian’s
rejoicing, a Christian’s joy, is always tempered by the ongo-
ing reality of sin.
As long as the Christian realizes this, spiritually he is in

14 Don’t Tell Me That!

a ‘good place’, as people say. In fact, he is very much like
the Apostle Paul describes himself in Romans 7.
When a Christian ignores, or would run away from, the
fact that sin is still a daily part of his life, trouble begins.
He begins to ignore the sin that still plagues him, or even
worse, begins to believe that his heavenly Father loves him
for the good things he does.
Unfortunately, the Christian Church nowadays, in its
attempt to appeal to the masses, seems to be encouraging,
perhaps unwittingly, this type of Christian life. It is doing
this by re-imaging itself, by making itself a guilt-free, non
shame-based zone. The Church is doing such a thing by
seeking to establish itself solely as a place of joy.
To accomplish this make-over, however, certain aspects
of Christian life are in the process of being jettisoned.
Sermons which would seek to establish the guilt of sin
within the Christian (or even simply mention it) have had
to go. Hymns and songs which speak of such guilt have
had to go. Music which would promote the contemplation
of guilt is banned. Confession and absolution as part of a
weekly service? Gone. The chief of all penitential prayers,
the Lord’s Prayer? No way. The Law of God...it must not
be mentioned!
Well, that is not completely true. The Law of God cer-
tainly is mentioned in the Church nowadays, but only as
a standard to live up to, not as a mirror of our lives which
shows clearly that we are not, nor can we, live up to such a
standard. Put in another way, the Law of God is not used
to make anyone feel guilty, simply to give Christians a goal
to attain.

Foreword  15
 “No, no, no!” you may be thinking at this point. “The
Law is still necessary for someone to realize that they need
Christ!”
Okay, but then what is next for the new Christian?
“Well, I’m not too sure here, but it would seem that now
that I am a Christian, I really don’t need to worry about
the 10 Commandments anymore. I mean, does the Law
of God still apply to Christians who have been redeemed
by Christ? Have not Christians been freed from the Law?
Cannot Christians simply live the way they want to live,
free from the fear of doing something that our heavenly
Father would not like? Can’t Christians live lives of joy,
regardless of how they live from day to day?”
These questions were posed to Martin Luther toward
the end of his life. What follows is his thinking on these
questions.
1
As quoted in Day by Day We Magnify Thee: Daily Readings for the Church
Year Selected from the Writings of Martin Luther, compiled and translated
by Margarete Steiner and Percy Scott (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989),
p. 193.
2
Mark 1:15.

16 Don’t Tell Me That!

Foreword  17
 1
What is Repentance?

Repentance is the sadness we experience after committing

a specific sin as well as the resolution we then make not to sin
in such a way again. Such sadness is the feeling or awareness
in our heart or conscience that we have disobeyed the Law
of God (the 10 Commandments: Exodus 20; Deuteronomy
6). Many people hear the Law, but because they do not feel
the effect or power of the Law in their hearts, experience
no sadness, and so are not truly repentant.
The first part of repentance (sadness) is caused solely by
the Law of God. The second part of repentance (the good
resolve not to sin in such a way again) cannot be caused

What is Repentance?  19

by the Law. The person who becomes terrified when he
considers his sin cannot by his own strength alone resolve
to do better.
In fact, the exact opposite occurs. When a person is
overpowered by his sin and is ashamed of what he has done,
he begins to mistrust God and actually to hate Him. Such
mistrust and hate of God the Bible calls literally a descent
into hell (Psalm 88).
In order to change this situation, the promise of Christ
(the Gospel) must be added to the Law. It is the Gospel
which lays the terrified conscience to rest and rights it once
again so that a person can resolve to do better.
Repentance which is a result of the Law alone is only
partial repentance, the beginning of repentance, or a re-
pentance which is not complete. Such a repentance is not
complete repentance for it does not include a resolve to
do better. Such a repentance is just like the repentance of
Cain (Genesis 4:13), Saul (1 Samuel 26:21; 31:4), Judas
(Matthew 27:4-5) and all
Repentance which is a those who doubt and despair
of the mercy of God.
result of the Law alone is Such a definition of re-
only partial repentance pentance (regret for sin
along with the resolution
to do better) has been taught for centuries but with little
understanding. Since the individual parts of the definition
(sin, regret, and the resolve to do better) were not under-
stood, repentance itself could not be taught.
What was taught instead was that such regret was really
a product of a free will which possessed the ability to hate

20 Don’t Tell Me That!

sin or not to hate sin whenever it wanted. In reality, regret
is the sorrow or torment experienced by the conscience
(whether it wants to or not!)
when properly addressed or Regret is the torment
confronted by the Law. experienced by the
In the past it was also taught
conscience when
that sin was simply an improper
action against man-made insti- confronted by the Law
tutions. Seldom were sins ad-
dressed that were committed against the moral law (the 10
Commandments). As far as original sin is concerned, it was
taught that after baptism there should be no sin–especially
a sin against any of the first three commandments.
The Law itself, described by Jeremiah (23:29) as God’s
rock-smashing hammer, crushes such an inaccurate teach-
ing of repentance by enclosing all people in sin. According
to such a faulty teaching, a good resolve not to sin is a
thought self-chosen by human strength to avoid sin from
a given point forward. But according to the Gospel, such
good resolve is a movement of the heart awakened by the
Holy Spirit.
A good resolve not to sin in a certain way again is the
determination to hate sin from that time onward out of
love for God–even though sin in the flesh still fights hard
against such a determination. Being versed only in the rules
and theories of men, and not in the Word of God, those
in the past who taught otherwise understood neither the
Law nor the Gospel–and so could not teach rightly about
repentance.
In contrast to such a futile teaching of desperation the

What is Repentance?  21

Gospel teaches that repentance is not despair alone, but
hope as well. Such hope is a hate of sin which flows from
a love of God. This is truly a good resolve not to sin.

1. Which are the two parts of repentance?

2. What causes the first part, the sorrow, of repentance?

3. What causes the second part of repentance?

4. What happens when a person resolves to do better,

solely on the basis of the Law?

5. Who, in the Bible, repented of their sins, but not com-

pletely?

6. Why is it a problem to think that repentance is a result

of a free human will?

7. What or who moves a Christian to resolve to do better?

8. According to Luther, how does Christian hope relate to

sin?

22 Don’t Tell Me That!

 2
Do Christians
Really Need the Law?

Nowadays there is a novel idea afoot! According to the

promoters of this idea, the Law (that is, the 10 Command-
ments) should be completely removed from the Church.
This is nothing else but deplorable and irreverent.
­The entire Bible teaches that it is the Law which must
initiate repentance. Logic as well as experience teaches us
this. That is why Scripture says: “The wicked shall return
to Sheol, all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17);
and: “Put them in fear, O Lord! Let the nations know that
they are but men!”(v. 20); “Let them be put to shame and
dismayed forever;...that they may know that you alone,

Do Christians Really Need the Law?  23

whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the
earth” (Psalm 83:17); and “The wicked are snared in the
work of their own hands” (Psalm 9:16).
In that we are human beings, we encounter sin and death
before we encounter righteousness and life. We do not
sin and die because we are righteous and alive. Rather, in
that we are by nature sinful and die because of Adam, we
must be made righteous and alive by Christ. The doctrine
of Adam (that is of sin and death) must be taught before
that of Christ–whom Adam prefigures (1 Corinthians
15:47).
Sin and death are not exposed by a Word of grace and
comfort, but only by the Law. Experience proves this as well.
Adam was first rebuked as a breaker of the Law, and then
restored through the promised descendant of the woman
(Genesis 3:15). David also
The doctrine of Adam was first killed through the
Law, when Nathan said to
must be taught before him: “You are the man!” He
that of Christ–whom was then restored by the
Adam prefigures Gospel, when Nathan said:
“You will not die” (2 Samuel
12:7,13). Paul was first struck
down through the Law, and heard: “Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?” Then he was made alive again through
the Gospel: “Get up” (Acts 9:4, 6).
­And Christ Himself said (Mark 1:15): “Repent, and
believe the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God has come
among you!” And afterwards (Luke 24:46f ): “The Christ
must suffer etc. and allow preaching of repentance and the

24 Don’t Tell Me That!

forgiveness of sins in His name.”
The Spirit first rebukes the world because of sin ( John
16:8) so that He can then teach faith in Christ, that is,
the forgiveness of sins. Paul in Romans held to this way
of teaching when he first taught that all people are sinners
and then afterwards, that they must become righteous only
through Jesus Christ (Romans 3:23, 28). Luke as well as-
serts in Acts that Paul taught both the Jews and the heathen
that no one can become righteous, except through Christ
alone (Acts 13:38).

1. What “novel idea” was being promoted in the Church of

Luther’s day?

2. Is that same idea being promoted today?

3. If so, in what way is such an idea being promoted?

4. According to the Word of God, what is it that must

cause a person to begin to repent?

5. Do we, as Christians, still encounter sin and death?

6. Do we encounter sin and death before or after righ-

teousness and life?

7. Luther gives three examples of people in the Bible who

were first exposed to sin and death, and then righteous-
ness and life. Name them:

Do Christians Really Need the Law?  25

8. Did Christ preach about sin and death, or only about
righteousness and life?

9. Which person of the Trinity convicts the world of sin?

10. Why does He do that?

26 Don’t Tell Me That!

 3
Not to Make Us
Right Before God!

The Law cannot make us righteous before God. It is

completely unuseful and unfulfillable. The Law will become
a poison and a pestilence to him who believes that he will
become righteous before God by fulfilling the Law.
If someone examines the doctrine of justification, not
enough can be said against the powerlessness of the Law,
and against the destructiveness of a trust in the Law. The
Law was not given to make righteous, or alive, or help in
some way to justify man (Galatians 3:21). On the contrary,
the Law exposes sin and creates wrath (Romans 3:20; 4:15),
that is, the Law creates guilt in the conscience.

Not to Make Us Right Before God!  27

 Death is not imposed upon us to give us life. Sin is not
inborn within us to make us sinless. The Law was not given
to us so that by keeping it we would become righteous. The
Law is not able to give righteousness or life.
In short, as far as the east is from the west, so far should
the Law be separated from the Gospel. One simply should
not teach, say, or think about a person’s righteousness before
God with anything but the Word of grace, which was made
known to us in Christ.
This does not mean, however, that the Law has become
obsolete. This does not mean that the Law should not be
part of the preaching of the Church. In fact, because of the
grace made known to us in Christ, the teaching of the Law
is even more necessary.
Why? It must be made
The teaching of the Law known that the fulfilling of
is even more necessary the Law is not only not neces-
because of the grace sary for our justification, but
simply impossible! Only by
made known to us in the preaching of the Law will
the self-centered person who
is confident in his own abilities be taught that he cannot
become righteous by the Law.
Sin and death must first and foremost be revealed to such
a person. These must be revealed to him, not because they
are necessary for righteousness and life, but in order that
he acknowledges his unrighteousness and his condemna-
tion - and is humbled.
If sin remains unacknowledged, a person imagines
himself guiltless (as was the case among the Greeks and

28 Don’t Tell Me That!

thereafter among the Pelagians1). If death remains unac-
knowledged, a person will think that this life is all that
there is and that no future life exists.

1
Pelagians were followers of the British monk Pelagius (late 4th, early 5th
century), who denied the doctrine of original sin and taught that Christians
had a free will not only in earthly matters, but in spiritual matters as well.

1. If a person tries to become righteous before God by ful-

filling the Law, why will such a person’s view of the Law
change?

2. As far as the doctrine of justification is concerned, does

the Law have any power?

3. For what purpose was the Law given?

4. Why is the preaching of the Law necessary?

5. What does the Law do for the “self-centered person

who is confident in his own abilities” and strength?

6. Why must sin and death be revealed to such a person?

7. What happens if sin remains unacknowledged?

Not to Make Us Right Before God!  29

 4
But to Expose
Sin, Wrath and Death

The Law alone teaches both sin and death. The Law is
therefore extremely useful and necessary.
The work of the Law–both in the Old and New Testa-
ment–is to expose sin, wrath and death. The exposing of
sin is nothing else (and can be nothing else) than the Law,
or the proper work and working of the Law.
The expressions Law, exposing of sin, and revelation of
wrath are synonymous, just as the terms man and reason-
able creature are synonymous. To discard the Law and still
maintain some sort of revelation of wrath is just as if you
would deny that Peter was a human being, and yet claim he

But to Expose Sin, Wrath and Death  31

was a reasonable creature. It would be just as wise to discard
the Law and yet assert that sin must be forgiven.
The Writings of the Holy Spirit maintain that sin re-
mains dead without the Law, and without the Law there
is no breaking of the Law (Romans 4:15). Sin, therefore,
cannot exist or be acknowledged without the Law–either
the Law written in our hearts or the Law in the Bible.
It follows then that since there is no sin, there is no Christ
who redeems from sin. It is, after all, Christ who said: “The
healthy do not need a physician” (Matthew 9:12).
Christ did not appear to abolish the Law but to fulfill
it (Matthew 5:17). If there is no Law which we should
fulfill, Christ appeared for no purpose. And because the
Law demands our obedience to God, anyone who would
discard the Law would effectively put an end to our obedi-
ence to God.
It should therefore be clear that the devil alone uses such
an assertion to teach us about sin, repentance and Christ.
By doing so, however, he takes Christ, repentance, sin and
the entire Scriptures away from us.
Taking these things away
If there is no Law from us, the devil thus takes
away f rom us the author of
which we should
Scripture, God Himself, and
fulfill, Christ appeared intends to establish the most
for no purpose destructive security, contempt
for God, unpunished wanton-
ness, and an eternal unrepentedness greater than that of
Epicurus1 himself. Such an intent is proven by the claim
people make today that “all the Law is used for is to condemn

32 Don’t Tell Me That!

people to hell! Certainly the job of rebuking sin via the Law is
not a work of the Holy Spirit!”
Yet these same people would still continue to talk about
the forgiveness of sins. But how can there be sin at all, when
sin does not have the power to condemn a person to hell?
Obviously then, there must be some sort of sin that does
not damn! Perhaps this special kind of sin also makes a
person holy without Christ!
You see, when sin does not
damn, we have not been redeemed A sin that does not
by Christ from a damnable sin. damn is better than
If we have not been redeemed both righteousness
by Christ from a damnable sin,
we have not escaped the wrath
and life itself
of God.
A sin that does not damn is a sin which is better than
both righteousness and life itself. For what could be holier
than to have sins which do not damn, which are, in reality,
not sins at all? If the Law is abolished, we must be redeemed
by such undamnable sins, and must be holy, and must not
have Christ be our Mediator before God.
It is also false to assert that the Law rebukes sin without
the Holy Spirit. After all the Law is written with the finger
of God (Exodus 31:18). All truth, where it exists, is from
the Holy Spirit. To abolish the Law is therefore to abolish
the truth of God.
It is simply nonsense to abolish the Law because its work
is to rebuke sin to damnation. The power of sin is the Law,
as St. Paul says (1 Corinthians 15:56), and sin itself is the
sting of death. Otherwise, let us eat and drink and being

But to Expose Sin, Wrath and Death  33

led by such a teacher sing: “Away with anything which
prepares us for tomorrow!” For after the Law (which is the
power of sin) is discarded, it must be that death and hell are
destroyed. Such destruction occurs not through the blood
of the Son of God, who perfectly obeyed and fulfilled the
Law, but in that we simply deny that there is some sort of
Law of God that must be fulfilled!
All such teaching nowadays about sin, repentance, Christ
and the forgiveness of sin is simply nonsense and a lie
entirely worthy of the devil.
All truth is from the For as the Law was before
Holy Spirit; to abolish Christ, it freely accuses us.
Under Christ, however, the
the Law is therefore to Law is fulfilled through the
abolish the truth of God Spirit and silenced through
the forgiveness of sins.
The Law after Christ will remain fulfilled in the life to
come. At that time the creature will have become new (just
as the Law now demands that it be!)
For this reason the Law will not be discarded, but will
remain, so that it must either be fulfilled by the damned,
or become fulfilled by the holy. What is taught today, how-
ever, is that the Law remained in effect only for a time, and
ceased under Christ, as did circumcision.

1
Epicurus (342?-270 B. C.) was a Greek philosopher who taught that the
only good thing in life was pleasure. In that pleasure was the only good thing
in life, pleasure should be the ultimate arbiter of what is moral.

34 Don’t Tell Me That!

1. What alone teaches both sin and death?

2. Would it be possible to discard the Law of God and still

speak about His wrath?

3. Can sin exist without the Law?

4. If sin does not exist, do we need Christ?

5. How does discarding the Law take from us sin, repen-

tance, and ultimately, Jesus Christ Himself?

6. If a sin does not have the power to damn a person to

hell, is it still a sin?

7. Can the Law rebuke sin without the Holy Spirit?

8. Why is it that sin is tied so closely to the Law and dam-

nation?

9. How is the Law “fulfilled through the Spirit?”

10. How will the Law be fulfilled in the life to come?

But to Expose Sin, Wrath and Death  35

 5
Christian Repentance
is Continual

The repentance of Roman Catholicism, Islam, Juda-

ism, unbelievers and hypocrites is all the same. All express
sorrow for a few real sins, and then make satisfaction for
them.
To other unknown sins, or original sin itself, however,
they remain oblivious. Their repentance is therefore partial,
and temporary, only in view of a few sins, and over a few
small periods of time in their lives. But such must be the
view of repentance by anyone who does not understand that
the entire human nature through original sin is dreadfully
damaged and corrupted.

Christian Repentance Is Continual  37

 The repentance of those who believe in Christ does not
focus in upon actual sins alone, but is continual, the whole
life long, until death. It is the duty of Christians to hate
and abhor the lingering disease of sin in the human nature
until they die.
Christ says rightly to all who believe in Him “Repent”
(Matthew 4:17). Christ wants the entire life of those who
believe in Him to be one of repentance, for sin remains in
our flesh as long as we live and fights against the Spirit,
which opposes it (Romans 7:23).
All works after justification, therefore, are nothing else
then a continual repentance–or a good resolution against
sin. To do such works is to do nothing else than to drive
out the sin which through the Law is exposed and through
Christ is forgiven.
The doing of such works is
All works after similar to the task given the
justification, therefore, children of Israel after the
are nothing else than a land of Canaan had been con-
continual repentance quered. Their victory assured,
they were to drive out the
remaining Jebusites who still
dwelt in the land (Deuteronomy 7:1). Of course, it wasn’t
any easier driving the remaining Jebusites out of the land
than it had been initially to enter it! In a similar fashion, it
is not much easier–through continual repentance–to drive
out the sin that remains within us than it was initially to
become an enemy of sin.
This is the reason why the holy and just (when God so
works upon them with the Law) are often sad in heart

38 Don’t Tell Me That!

and lament their sin. By rights they should rejoice in the
Lord, for their sins have been forgiven, and they remain
in grace (Romans 5:1; 8:1). And yet they cry out pitiably,
mentioning no real sins, and pray simply for the grace of
God, just as we read in the Psalms.

1. How is the repentance of Roman Catholicism, Islam,

Judaism, and even atheism similar?

2. How does true Christian repentance differ?

3. As long as we live, what fights against the Holy Spirit,

which opposes it?

4. How are all works, after justification, nothing else but

continual repentance?

5. How is repentance similar to the driving out of the Je-

busites from the land of Canaan by the Israelites?

6. Why is it that Christians, who should rejoice, are often

sad in heart?

Christian Repentance Is Continual  39

 6
The Lord’s Prayer is a
Prayer of Repentance

The Lord’s Prayer, which was taught by the Lord Himself

to His holy and faithful disciples (Matthew 6:9-13), is a
part of repentance. It is also something taught by Christ in
which a great deal of the Law remains. For whoever prays
the Lord’s Prayer rightly, confesses with his own mouth,
that he sins against the Law, and for that, he is sorry.
Whoever prays that God’s name should be holy confesses
that God’s name is not yet completely holy. Whoever prays
that the kingdom of God should come confesses that he
still, in part, remains in the kingdom of the devil–to which
God’s kingdom is opposed. Whoever prays that God’s will

The Lord’s Prayer is a Prayer of Repentance  41

be done confesses that he, in greater part, has been disobe-
dient to the will of God–and for that he is sorry.
In that the Law of God teaches that the name of God
should be hallowed, whoever prays such a thing confesses
that he has not fulfilled this Law. And whoever abhors what
from the kingdom of the devil still remains within him, he
at the same time, confesses that he has not ful-filled the
Law–especially the first three commandments. And he who
prays that God’s will should occur within him confesses
that he has not been obedient to the will of God.
This prayer must be prayed by the entire Church until
the end of the world. This prayer must be prayed by each
individual saint until death. For the entire Church is holy,
and acknowledges that it has sin, and must repent without
ceasing.
The Lord’s Prayer itself teaches, therefore that before
a Christian is declared righteous, when he is declared
righteous, and while he is considered to be righteous, the
Law should remain. It also teaches that repentance must
be initiated by the Law. For whoever asks for something
simply confesses that he does not have that thing for which
he asks, and waits for that thing to be given to him. It is
the Law which shows us what we do not have, and still
necessarily must have.
It should be no surprise
Whoever asks for some- then that whoever wants to
thing confesses that he get rid of the Law must also
does not have it and waits get rid of the Lord’s Prayer.
Come to think of it, they
for it to be given to him must get rid of the greatest

42 Don’t Tell Me That!

part of the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
For He Himself (Matthew 5:17ff ) not only discussed the
Law of Moses, but fully interpreted it, and taught that it
should not be dissolved.
And in that He taught the Pharisees about the most
important and greatest commandment of the Law, He
sanctioned the Law, and said: “Do this and you will live”
(Luke 10:28). The Lord chastised, reproached, threatened,
and frightened throughout the Gospels and so practiced the
same office of the Law. Those
who teach that the Law must Those who do not teach
be done away with are there-
fore simply ashamed to teach
the Law are ashamed to
and to do what the Lord teach and do what the
Himself taught and did. Lord himself taught and
But let’s suppose, for the
point of argument, that sin could be exposed by something
else besides the Law (which is nonetheless impossible!).
Should we therefore get rid of the Law because it does
the same thing that is done by something else, that is, it
exposes sin?
Along these same lines, if the Law could be done away
with in its written form, who would want to utterly destroy
the living Law, which is written in the heart, and is in op-
position to us, and is simply the same as the Law of Moses
(Colossians 2:14)?

The Lord’s Prayer is a Prayer of Repentance  43

1. Why is the Lord’s Prayer called the Lord’s Prayer?

2. How is the Lord’s Prayer part of repentance?

3. For centuries, the Lord’s Prayer has been prayed right

before the Words of Institution and the distribution of
the Lord’s Supper. Why would that be?

4. In that we pray for many things in the Lord’s Prayer,

what are we actually confessing about those things by
praying for them?

5. Even though the Church is holy, does sin still remain

within it?

6. What is it that shows a Christian what he does not have,

and yet still must have?

7. Why must those who want to get rid of the Law, also
get rid of the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples?

8. Did Jesus teach that the Law should be dissolved, or

fulfilled?

9. Even if something else besides the Law could expose

sin, should we get rid of the Law?

44 Don’t Tell Me That!

 7
The Forgiveness of Sin
is Certain

There hasn’t been a more destructive teaching against

repentance in the Church (with the exception of the Saddu-
cees and the Epicureans) as that of Roman Catholicism. In
that it never permitted the forgiveness of sin to be certain,
it took away complete and true repentance.
It taught that a person must be uncertain as to whether
or not he stood before God in grace with his sins forgiven.
Such certainty was instead to be found in the value of a
person’s repentance, confession, satisfaction and service
in purgatory. It never declared, however, when the end of
repentance, confession, satisfaction and purgatory would

The Forgiveness of Sin is Certain  45

be.
But who would repent of anything for any length of time
if there were no certainty as to whether or not sins were
retained or forgiven? Of course it was not the unrepentant
and confident people who
Who would repent of were taught such a thing, but
anything if there were no the terrified, who had begun
to repent in such a way, but
certainty as to whether or eventually would be moved,
not sins were forgiven? out of desperation, to cease
to repent at all.
To anyone who would repent in such a way Christ would
be useless. Why? Such a person would always be in doubt as
to whether or not Christ had died for his particular sins!
Such doubt, which leads to perpetual unrepentance, is
more dangerous than even the unrepentance of the confi-
dent. The unrepentance of the confident is disdain for God.
In contrast, perpetual unrepentance is blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit.
Therefore one must protect himself against such a doc-
trine of repentance as much as one protects himself from
hell and the devil himself.

46 Don’t Tell Me That!

1. Why is it that if a Christian is not certain that His sins are
forgiven, complete and true repentance is not possible?

2. Would a person repent of anything, if he were not sure

that his sins had been forgiven?

3. Why would Christ be useless to such a person?

4. What is, ultimately, perpetual unrepentance?

The Forgiveness of Sin is Certain  47

 8
Repentance, However,
is Vital!

A Christian must simply guard himself against those

who would not allow any kind of repentance to remain in
the Church. For they who say that one should not teach
the Law teach in reality that there should be no repentance
whatsoever.
The argument that “What is not necessary for justifica-
tion, neither beginning, nor middle, nor end, should not
be taught” is worthless. To begin with, if you would ask
what these bombastic words ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and ‘end’
mean you will find that they themselves do not understand
them.

Repentance, However, is Vital!  49

 It is as if you would conclude: “There is nothing necessary
for justification in the fact that man is dead in sin–neither
in beginning, nor middle, nor end–therefore one should
not teach such a thing.” Or
It simply does not follow “To honor parents, to live
that since the Law is not chastely, not to murder, not
to commit adultery, and
necessary for salvation it not to steal is not neces-
should be abolished sary for salvation, therefore
one should not teach such
things.” Or “That man is obligated to serve within the gov-
ernment of state and home, is not necessary for salvation,
therefore any Law which addresses such a thing should
be abolished.”
If the meaning of such an assertion is that anything not
necessary for justification should not be taught, what then
is new? It simply does not follow, that since the Law is not
necessary for salvation it should be abolished–or at least
cease to be taught.
In support of such an idea, the experience of Paul and
Barnabas–through whose service the heathen were justi-
fied without the Law (Acts 13)–is falsely applied. For Paul
proved that all men are sinners (which is the work of the
Law) even as he taught that all men must be made righteous
through Christ alone (Acts 13:38).
You see, whoever wants to be justified is still a sinner
and will only be convinced of that fact through the Law.
Throughout the writings of Paul, the phrase “without the
Law” should therefore be understood as Augustine1 rightly
understood it, “without the assistance of the Law.” For the

50 Don’t Tell Me That!

Law does not assist us in fulfilling it, but instead, demands
that we fulfill it.
In fact, the Law demands this from us to such an extent
that it will not allow one vain word to remain unprosecut-
ed–as Christ Himself affirmed. The Lord also noted that
“not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law, until all is
accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). In short, if Christ is not set
against this strong admonisher the Law, payment for guilt
must be made to the last penny (Matthew 5:26).
Grace and the forgiveness of sins do not make people
safe before sin, death and the Law to the extent that sin,
death and the Law no longer exist. On the contrary, grace
and forgiveness make us far more industrious and careful
to overcome sin, death, and the Law daily through Christ,
the One Who makes us holy.
The Law of God is not part of our lives merely because
we want it to be, but instead, it is part of our lives whether or
not we want it to be. The Law of God was part of our lives
before we were justified, is in the beginning, middle, and
end of justification, and is part of our lives even after we
are justified. The Law is there because it had to be taught,
acknowledged, and reign from the beginning of sin, which
Adam started, until it would be fulfilled through Christ,
the Victor.
Faith in Christ alone justi-
fies (Romans 3:28). He alone After justification good
fulfills the Law. He alone works freely follow
does good works without the without the help or the
Law. He alone receives the
forgiveness of sins, and does
coercion of the Law

Repentance, However, is Vital!  51

good works through love by His own free will. It is true
that after justification good works freely follow without the
Law, that is, without the help or the coercion of the Law.
In summary, the Law is of no use nor necessary for jus-
tification. Neither is it of use nor necessary for any sort of
good work–much less for holiness. The opposite, in fact, is
true: Justification, good works and holiness are necessary
for the fulfilling of the Law. For Christ is come “to seek
and save the lost” (Luke 19:10), and “to restore all things”
(Acts 3:21).
The Law, therefore, was not abolished through Christ.
Instead, the Law was established once again in order that
Adam would be as he once was and even better still.

1
Augustine of Hippo (354-430).

1. Why is it that if the Church stops teaching the Law, it

must also stop practicing repentance?

2. In that the Law is not part of justification, does that

mean it is not part of the Christian life? Why or why not?

3. Does the Law assist us in fulfilling the Law, or merely de-

mand that we fulfil it?

4. Are there any sins that a Christian commits, even sins of

the slightest nature, for which no compensation to God
is required?

52 Don’t Tell Me That!

5. Since a Christian enjoys the grace of God and the
forgiveness of sins, do sin, death and the Law cease to
exist?

6. Is the Law of God part of life merely because we want

it to be? Do we have a choice as to whether or not it
should be?

7. What alone justifies us before God?

8. Who alone does good works from His own free will?

9. After justification, do good works flow from a Christian

without the coercion of the Law?

10. Was the Law, through Christ, abolished or established?

Repentance, However, is Vital!  53

 9
The Law Rules Over Man
as Long as He Lives

“The Law is binding on a person only as long as he lives”

(Romans 7:1). This means that a person will be free from
the Law only when he dies. Consequently, if a man wants
to be free from the Law, it is necessary that he dies.
In that the Law rules over man as long as he lives, sin
also rules over man as long as he lives. Therefore, if man
wants to be free from sin, he must die. For “the Law is the
power of sin, but sin is the sting of death” (1 Corinthians
15:56).
These three, the Law, sin and death, are inseparable.
Therefore, insofar as death remains in man, sin and the

The Law Rules Over Man as Long as He Lives  55

Law also remain.
Apart from Christ we receive the Law, that is, the let-
ter, which is not yet fulfilled, and yet necessarily must be
fulfilled by us. In Christ the Law is certainly fulfilled, sin
exterminated, and death destroyed.
That means that if we, through faith in Christ, are cru-
cified and die, in such a way is the Law truly fulfilled, sin
truly exterminated, and death truly destroyed also among
us. As long as we do not die in such a way, we are still not
in Christ, but instead are outside of Christ, and therefore
under the Law, sin and death.
The doctrine itself demonstrates–and experience
proves–that people who are justified continue to die with
as much frequency as people who are not justified. In that
the justified still experience death, they must still be under
the Law and sin.
Those who want to remove the Law from the Church
are totally inexperienced people
In that the justified and deceivers of souls. For such
a thing is not only foolish and
still experience death, godless, but also completely
they must still be impossible. For if you want to
under the Law take away the Law, you must at
the same time take away sin and
death. For death and sin are present through the Law, as
Paul says: “The Law kills” (2 Corinthians 3:6); and “The
Law is the power of sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56).
In that you yourself can see that justified Christians
continue to die daily, it is simply foolishness to think that
Christians should be without the Law. For if there were

56 Don’t Tell Me That!

no Law, there would be neither sin nor death.
It must therefore be demonstrated that the righteous are
either completely without sin and death, are now no longer
living in the flesh, or have been taken out of the world.
If such a thing could be demonstrated then we could do
away with the Law and cease to teach it. Since experience
demonstrates the exact opposite, however, any person who
would want to remove the Law from the Church should
simply be ashamed of himself.

1. How long does the Law rule over man?

2. What must happen to a man, to be freed from the Law?

3. How are sin, death, and the Law related?

4. How then is the Law fulfilled in Christians? Apart from

Christ or in Christ?

5. Do Christians die with as much frequency as non-Chris-

tians?

6. What must be demonstrated before Christians can do

away with the Law and cease to teach it?

The Law Rules Over Man as Long as He Lives  57

 10
The Law Rules Over
Non-Christians as Well

Even more shameless still is the assertion that the Law

should not be preached to a non-Christian. If the justified
and holy must keep their sins and death constantly exposed
by the Law–even though the Law is not given to them–how
much more must the Law be presented to the Godless and
evil, to which the Law is actually and truly given?
When it comes to the point where it is taught that the
Church comes into being and Christians are pious without
the Law, we have sunk into utter madness. At that point,
we truly would not know what we were saying or doing.
To assert such a thing would be to think that all believers

The Law Rules Over Non-Christians as Well  59

have been removed from the world. Such an idea would be
simply fantasy. After all, in this world the two are mixed
together: The justified who live still in the flesh, and the
evil. As the Law was given to the heathen not to be rejected
but to create awareness of sin, death and the wrath of God,
so is the Law given to the holy, as far as they have not yet
died, and still live in the flesh.
In the resurrected Christ there is no sin, no death, and
no Law to which He was subjugated in life. But the same
Christ is not yet fully resurrected in those who believe in
Him. He begins within them, as firstlings, to raise them
from the dead.
But in non-Christians, who are intermingled in the
Church with the Christians, and whose number is greater
than that of the Christians, Christ is still dead. He is not
within them. Such people are
As far as Christ is solely under the Law, and must
arisen within us, so through the Law–yes, where it is
possible–be terrified with bodily
far are we without thunderbolts.
the Law, sin and As far as Christ is arisen within
us, so far are we without the Law,
sin and death. As far as He, however, is not yet arisen within
us, so far are we under the Law, sin and death.
For this reason the Law–as well as the Gospel–must be
preached without discrimination both to the Christian
and the non-Christian. It must be preached to the non-
Christian so that he is frightened that his sins are made
known to death and the unavoidable wrath of God–and
thereby is humbled. The Law must be preached to the

60 Don’t Tell Me That!

Christian so that he is reminded to crucify his flesh with
its lusts and desires and never to become secure (Galatians
5:24). For security takes away faith and the fear of God,
and makes the state of the person to whom such a thing
occurs far worse than it was before he became a Christian
(2 Peter 2:20).

1. Should the Law be preached to someone who is not a

Christian? Why or why not?

2. Why is the Law given to the non-Christian?

3. Why is the Law given to the Christian?

4. According to Luther, is Christ fully resurrected in those

who believe in Him? Why or why not?

5. What about non-Christians? Is Christ resurrected within

them?

6. What is the relationship between the ‘riseness’ of Christ

within us and the Law, sin and death?

7. Why would security actually take away faith and the fear
of God?

The Law Rules Over Non-Christians as Well  61

 11
In Christians the Law
Remains Unfulfilled

Those in the Church who would do away with the Law

of God suppose that through Christ sin is done away with
essentially, substantially, and legally. Such people do not
understand that sin is done away with only in that God does
not reckon it to them (Psalm 32:2) and out of mercy forgives
their sin. For only relatively, out of grace, not essentially, nor
substantially, is sin suspended, the Law done away with,
and death destroyed.
This happens according to the will of Christ in this
life “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the

In Christians the Law Remains Unfulfilled  63

measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians
4:13). Christ was made a sacrament and an example for us.
This wonderful thought is that of Augustine, who wrote:
“Christ with his death according to the flesh, became
one with us who were condemned in both body and soul,
in order to restore us.” But Augustine never implied by
writing this–nor have we who read his writings therefore
concluded–that we should do away with the Law.
This has been deduced, however, by those who would do
away with the Law. Such a thought, therefore, is original
to them and of their own making.
The Holy Scriptures show us four ways to preach and to
bring people to holiness. These four ways are taken from
four works of God: God terrifies with threats, comforts
with promises, admonishes with sufferings, and beckons
with kindnesses.
But when these four ways are taught, they do not do
away with the Law, but instead, strengthen the Law. “The
goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4),
that is, so you acknowledge that the Law is the power of
sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). In
In that now the Law that now the Law frightens
frightens and kills, it and kills, it does so because
it refers man to himself, or in
does so to drive man to other words, drives man to
knowledge of himself knowledge of himself.
These folks who would do
away with the Law, however, act in such a way, that through
the sacrament and example of Christ they take away Christ
Himself. For if the Law would be taken away, no one would

64 Don’t Tell Me That!

know what Christ is or what He has done.
Without the Law no one
would know that Christ Without the teaching of
has fulfilled the Law for us. the Law, Christ himself
If I want to recognize the
cannot be maintained
fulfilling of the Law, that is,
Christ, necessarily I must
know what the Law is and how it is fulfilled.
According to such people the Law cannot be taught.
When one teaches the Law, he must teach that the Law
is not fulfilled in us, and that we are therefore guilty of sin
and death.
If the Law would be taught we would all learn that
we are guilty of the Law and are children of wrath. The
Godless would learn that they are guilty according to the
flesh and spirit, or in other words, completely and entirely.
Christians, however, would learn through the Law that
they are guilty and children of wrath as far as they still are
in the flesh and live.
For this reason the teaching of the Law is still neces-
sary in the Church and must be maintained. Without the
teaching of the Law, Christ Himself cannot be maintained.
For what would you think of Christ if the Law, which He
has fulfilled, is done away with and you do not know what
He has fulfilled? Ultimately the Law is fulfilled in Christ
in such a way that you cannot teach the Law unless you also
teach that the Law is not fulfilled in us.
To get rid of the Law, and allow sin and death to remain
is nothing else than to cover up the pestilence of sin and
death in people to their destruction. When death and sin

In Christians the Law Remains Unfulfilled  65

are done away with–as Christ has done (2 Timothy 1:10;
Romans 8:3)–then the Law can happily be done away with,
that is, the Law can finally be established (Romans 3:31).

1. If we would do away with the Law of God, what would

we be saying about sin?

2. How is sin done away with in the Christian: Substan-

tially, legally or relatively?

3. How was Christ made a sacrament and example for us?

4. What are the four ways, taught by the Word of God, to

preach and bring people to holiness?

5. How does the Law frighten and kill?

6. Is Christ truly knowable without the Law?

7. What does the Law teach the Godless?

8. What does the Law teach Christians?

9. When can the Church finally cease to teach the Law?

66 Don’t Tell Me That!

 12
The Law Must Condemn

The conclusion of Saint Paul, that “where there is no

Law, there is no trespass” (Romans 4:5), is not only spiri-
tually, but also physically and naturally true. It is also true
to say: Where there is no sin, there is neither judgement
nor forgiveness of sin. Also true is the assertion: Where
there is neither judgement nor forgiveness, there is also no
wrath or grace.
The same is also true: Where there is no wrath or grace,
there is neither divine or human government. The same is
also true: Where there is neither divine or human govern-
ment, there is neither God nor man. The same is also true:

The Law Must Condemn  67

Where there is neither God nor man, there is nothing,
perhaps, except the devil.
Therefore it must be that those who would rid the
Church of the Law are either devils themselves, or siblings
of the devil. It doesn’t matter that they preach and teach
a great deal about God, about Christ, about grace and the
Law.
It is neither novel nor unique that the name of God is
used improperly–as the devil himself often has done. The
confession of those who would rid the Church of the Law
is just like when the devil cries out to Christ “You are the
Son of the Living God” (Luke 4:34; 8:28). It is also like
the oath of every false prophet, “As true as the Lord lives!”
as Isaiah and Jeremiah show.
Whoever says that one should
Whoever says that not teach the Law which damns,
one should not teach simply denies the work of the
Law. And if such a person would
the Law which damns actually teach something from
simply denies the the Law, he would be teaching
work of the Law the veil of Moses, not his clear
and actual face (2 Corinthians
3:13). In other words, he would be teaching the Law as
understood solely by the flesh.
The Law which does not damn is made-up and con-
structed in much the same way as the mythical figures of
the Pegasus and mermaids. Even worldly or natural Law is
nothing if it does not frighten and condemn the trespasser
(Romans 13:1,5; 1 Peter 2:13ff ). Therefore it is rightly said:
“From bad morals come good Laws.”

68 Don’t Tell Me That!

 What those who would eliminate the Law from the
Church say about God, about Christ, about faith, the Law,
grace, and other things is said in much the same way as a
parrot says “Hello,” that is, it is said without understanding.
It is simply impossible that one can learn good theology
or right living from such preachers.
Therefore one should run away from their teaching as
the most harmful teaching of libertines, who give permis-
sion to all sorts of infamous deeds. For “they do not serve
Christ, but their own stomachs” (Romans 16:18) and seek,
as people without sense, to be pleasing to others, so that in
return, they can be honored by them.

1. Why is it that if there is no Law, there is no trespass?

2. Can a person preach the Law of God improperly? How?

3. What does Luther mean, when he compares those who

teach the Law of God improperly in the Church, to the
demons which cried out “You are the Son of the Living
God”?

4. What is the difference between the veil of Moses and

his actual face?

5. What does it mean to teach “the law as understood by

the flesh”?

The Law Must Condemn  69

6. How is the Law which does not damn like the Pegasus,
the flying horse of Greek mythology?

7. How is a teacher in the Church who would not teach

the Law like a parrot who can say “Hello!”?

8. How do false teachers in the Church serve not Christ,

but their stomachs?

70 Don’t Tell Me That!

 Afterword

“Why can’t Christian worship be simply, totally, and

completely joyful?” This question, raised by a parishioner,
drove me to delve into the question of the penitential na-
ture of traditional Christian worship. It was, after all, the
penitential aspect of Christian worship, which if anything,
could be considered the culprit in the situation. Who, after
all, can be joyful when confronted by sin for which he is
responsible?
Why then the penitential aspect of Christian worship?
Why is it, I asked myself, that for centuries, Christian wor-
ship has begun with the confession of sins, continued in the
Kyrie with pleas for the Lord to have mercy on the Chris-
tian, proceeded with the ultimate prayer of repentance, the
Lord’s Prayer, and finally, just before the reception of the
Lord’s Supper, included the Agnus Dei, that is, the plea that
the Lamb of God, Christ, have mercy? Why not simply
remove these four elements from Christian worship?
The answer to this question, and the others posed above, I
found in the Antinomian theses of Martin Luther. Written
in the years 1537, 1538 and 1540, these sets of theses for 6
separate disputations addressed the appropriate use of the
Law of God among Christians, and thus, in Christian wor-
ship. What moved Luther to write these sets of theses were
the assertions of a Wittenberg theologian by the name of

Afterword  71
Johannes Sneider, (1492-1566) a.k.a, Johannes Agricola.
Agricola, a long time colleague of Luther, had begun to
preach and teach that the Law should no longer be taught
in the Church. Agricola believed, apparently, that a person
became aware of sin not from his or her awareness of the
Law of God, but from his or her awareness–and complete
acceptance–of the Gospel, i.e. Jesus Christ. According to
Agricola, a person was sinful not because he had broken one
or all of the com-mandments, but because he had rejected
Christ. This being the case, the Law had no place in the
Church. Only Christ, only the Gospel, should be preached
by Christian pastors.
According to Johann Georg Walch (1693-1775), the
translator of the original theses into the German text from
which this translation was made, a sermon constructed
along these theological lines would first and foremost in-
form parishioners of the grace and mercy of God in Christ
Jesus. What would then follow would be the penetrating
question as to whether or not the parishioners truly believed
in the grace and mercy of God through poverty, sorrow,
sickness, and the fear of death. If through self examination,
the person found that they were guilty of unbelief, what
they were then encouraged to do was to call upon God in
prayer.1 (Nowadays we hear this approach to the Gospel
most frequently when this question is posed: “Have you
made Jesus Lord of your life? If you have not, please pray
with me now...”)
For the good of his students then, and for the Church (he
thought), Luther wrote these theses which take Agricola’s
understanding of the Law and flesh it out by asking the

72 Don’t Tell Me That!

simple question: If what Agricola is teaching is true, what
does it ultimately mean for the person and work of Jesus
Christ? Luther’s answer was that it negated them both.
The six sets of theses are divided in this book in the fol-
lowing fashion:
Disputation # 1 Dec 1537 Chapters 1-2
Disputation # 2 Jan 12 , 1538 Chapters 3-4
th

Disputation # 3 1538 Chapters 5-6

Disputation # 4 1538 Chapters 7-8
Disputation # 5 Sept 13 , 1538
th
Chapters 9-11
Disputation # 6 Sept 10 , 1540
th
Chapter 12
Where, then, did I find these theses? Prof. Roland
Ziegler, of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne,
Indiana should be mentioned here as the ultimate source,
for he is the one who in his current lectures on systematic
theology has been delving into these disputations and other
works of Luther that address the usage of the Law in the
Church. His musings on these texts have, through his stu-
dents, gone well beyond the city limits of Ft. Wayne.
Article VI of the Formula of Concord (1577), The Third
Use Of Law, is a result of discussions raised by Agricola’s
theology and Luther’s response in these theses and other
works of the period. In his Historical Introductions to the
Book of Concord (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House,
1921, pp. 161-172), F. Bente sketched an outline of the
issues at hand and therewith included many of the theses
here published.
The theses published here were not gleaned from Bente’s
Historical Introductions, however, but were translated into
English from the German translation of the Latin text by

Afterword  73
Walch, published in volume 20 (columns 1628-1649) of
his 24 volume edition of Luther’s works. These were first
printed in the years 1740-1752, and again in St. Louis in
the years 1880-1910. My source, as was Bente’s (presum-
ably), was the St. Louis edition (see footnote above). Of
other English translations of the Antinomian theses of
Martin Luther I am unaware.
The chapter headings as well as the study questions were
added for clarity. Bible citations were standardized–when
possible–using the new English Standard Version (Whea-
ton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
Here I must thank Scott Krieger for reformatting the
entire text and, in general, seeing the work through to its
publication. Without his tireless efforts, it simply would
not have been possible. Gene Berner and Cornelia Murphy
read through early drafts of this work and were extremely
helpful in their questioning of muddled translations.
For the shortcomings of this work, I freely take respon-
sibility. Surely others could have faired better with bringing
a 16th century academic treatise into 21st century light. Yet,
what is truly important is that this work, in whatever form,
is once again read and embraced by the Christian Church. If
this edition, then, helps in some way to cause this to occur,
its flaws, I hope, will be graciously overlooked.

Paul Strawn, Spring Lake Park, Minnesota

October, 2004

1
In the words of Walch: “1. Die Art und Weise, diese Lehre unter das Volk zu
bringen, soll diese sein: 1. Dem Volke soll Gottes Gnade und Barmherzigkeit

74 Don’t Tell Me That!

in Christo aufs allerfüsseste gepredigt werden. Das ist die Major (propositio).
2. Darauf soll das Volk aufgefordert werden, sich zu erforschen, ob es das
auch völlig glaube in Armuth, Krankheit, Schande, Todesschrecken und
anderem Unglück. Das ist die Minor, die hauptsache, wo die nicht folgt, da
ist noch kein Evangelium gepredigt, sondern, daß Christus ein rechter Moses
sei. “Auf den Minorem folgt: conclusio in hunc modum“: 3. “Wer sich nun
schuldig weiß, der rufe Gott an”...” In “31. D. Martin Luthers Widerlegung
der falschen und verführischen Lehre der Antinomer wider das Gesetz, in
6 Disputationenen verfasst,” Dr. Martin Luthers Sämmtliche Schriften,
edited by J. G. Walch, Vol. 20 (St. Louis: Lutherischer Concordia-Verlag,
1890), Col. 1624, ftnt. 2.

Afterword  75
 Biblical References

Genesis Jeremiah
3:15 24 23:29 21
4:13 20 Lamentations
Exodus 3:22-33 15
20 19 Zechariah
31:18 33 9:9 10
Deuteronomy Matthew
6 19 4:17 38
7:1 38 5:17 32, 43
1 Samuel 5:18 51
26:21 20 5:26 51
31:4 20 6:9-13 41
2 Samuel 9:12 32
12:7 8, 24 27:4-5 20
12:13 24 Mark
Psalms 1:15 12, 17, 24
9:16 24 Luke
9:17 23 4:34 68
9:20 23 8:28 68
32:2 64 10:20 10
51:10-12 11 10:28 43
83:17 24 19:10 52
88 20 24:46f 24

Biblical References  77

John 2 Corinthians
16:8 8, 25 3:6 56
16:16-22 15 3:13 68
Acts Galatians
3:21 52 3:21 27
9:4,6 24 5:22-23 9
13 50 5:24 61
13:38 25, 50 Ephesians
Romans 4:13 64
2:4 64 Philippians
3:20 9, 28 4:4 10
3:23 25 Colossians
3:28 25, 51 2:14 43
3:31 66 2 Timothy
4:5 67 1:10 66
4:15 28, 32 1 Peter
5:1 39 2:13ff 68
7 15 2 Peter
7:1 55 2:20 61
7:7-8 8 1 John
7:23 38 3:1-3 15
8:1 39
8:3 66
13:1 68
13:5 68
16:18 69
1 Corinthians
15:47 24
15:56 34,55,56,64

78 Don’t Tell Me That!

Lutheran Press
is a non-profit corporation established to pub-
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 How To Live A
Christian Life

Adapted From
Martin Luther’s
On Christian Freedom

In this short work, Martin Luther answers

the question of how to live a Christian life
by harmonizing two seemingly contradictory
statements by the Apostle Paul, and in doing
so clearly and simply explains the basic aspects
of the Christian life.
To order How To Live A Christian Life please
contact us by mail or online at:

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Minneapolis, MN 55449

www.lutheranpress.com